forbidden - chris beck

Chapter 5

The next couple of days were nothing particularly interesting. It was mostly repair work and such.

I did however get that email from my brother and it turns out he finally asked his girlfriend to marry him. They'd been together for almost 6 years now; high school sweethearts. I was so happy for him, she was amazing and they were perfect for each other.

Then I got an email from my mom complaining about how I needed to meet someone soon. Seriously mom, you're telling me this when I'm floating around in space? It's not like I'm going ask out an alien.

~

The crew were hanging out in the Rec area. Everyone had finished their evening meals and just sat around for a while.

Johanssen was doing something on her computer, sounded like some sort of game. Vogel and Beck just finished a game of cards to which Vogel won and stood up in triumph at a disappointed Beck. Martinez and Watney were arguing over a theory about Aquaman. As for the Commander, she closed the lid on her laptop and quickly wiped away a tear, hoping that no one would see, but I did.

I figured she was upset about something and thought it would be a good idea to approach her. I walked up to the couch where she was sitting and took a seat next to her.

"Everything okay, Commander?" I said in a quiet voice, not wanted to draw any attention to anyone else.

"I'm fine." She sniffled a bit and then passed me a reassuring smile. I simply nodded in hopes that she would understand that I was willing to listen to her, and she did.

"I was just reading some emails from my husband." She looked down at her hands in her lap. "I really miss him." She let out a deep breath, trying her best not to burst out crying.
"I thought I wouldn't. I thought I was perhaps stronger than this, but I really just can't wait to see him again."

I placed a comforting hand on her arm. "Hey, it's natural. We're all going through it in our own little ways. You've just gotta keep it together. We're on our way to Mars and we should be enjoying every minute of it, don't let anything bring you down, you'll regret it otherwise." I slowly rubbed my hand along her back as she took a few more deep breaths and sat up straighter.

"You're right, thank you Ava." She offered a small smile. I took that as my queue to leave.

"Anytime." I stood up and was making my way to Johanssen to see what she was up to on her beloved computer but I was stopped by a concerned looking Martinez and Watney.

"Hey Collins, was Lewis crying?" Martinez asked. I stopped walked and stood closer to where they were sitting, not wanting the Commander to hear.

"Yeah, she was feeling a little upset." I told them both in a whispered tone and sighed. "I wish there was something we could do to cheer her up."

"God Dammit." Watney pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

Both Martinez and I looked to him in confusion, "What's wrong?" I asked curiously.

Watney stood up from his chair and shook his head. "We're gonna need to play some of that God awful disco music."

He walked out of the Rec, and me and Martinez looked at each other in shock at first, but then both broke out into smiles as we figured out what Watney planned to do.

A few seconds later he returned holding Lewis' flash drive which contained all of her music. We watched in anticipation as he walked to Johanssen and whispered to her. She smiled as he spoke and nodded, before putting the flash drive into the computer.

Before we could say anything, the song 'Rock the Boat' by Hues Corporation started playing through the Rec speakers. We all immediacy turned to look at the Commander as she lifted her head up. When she saw us smiling cheekily her lips curved up into a big grin.

At that point, Martinez jumped out of his seat and began dancing in the centre of the room. I placed a hand over my mouth to hold back my laughter and heard the roaring laughs of Vogel and Beck.

"Oh my god." Lewis watched Martinez in amazement and wasn't able to contain her laughter.

"C'mon guys," Martiez spoke as he continued to show off his moves. "You just gonna leave me here dancing alone?"

At the request both Beck and Vogel jumped out of their seats and joined him to dance. Me and Johanssen looked at each other with wide grins and we shrugge our shoulders deciding to join them. She got up from her computer and we both started to dance, something I hadn't done in a long time.

Watney stood laughing his head off at our moves and then strode over to the commander. He stood in front of her and asked, "I'll dance if you will."

After giving it a moment of thought she nodded and he smiled whilst leading her to where we were. We all cheered at the fact that she was smiling and as she began showcasing her secret dance moves.

Johanssen was laughing tears as she watched Vogel attempting to do the robot, while Watney was shimmying his body in front of me, making me laugh hysterically.

Looking around at all the happy faces and hearing all the laughter created what was the best time I had had on Hermes so far. Everybody just seemed to forgot about everything else and just let loose. Maybe disco wasn't too bad. Okay, it is pretty terrible, but if it can make Lewis this happy, it must be doing something right.

~

After everybody calmed down a little bit, Wateny claimed he'd he enough of the music and so went up onto the computer to change it.

"This may be the one disco song that isn't half bad." He said as he clicked on the computer.

By now the crew had all sat down to catch their breaths a little and contemplate over how much fun they just had, smiles still evident on their faces.

Mark played the track 'Love Hangover' By Diana Ross, causing Lewis to close he eyes and nod in happiness. I'm guessing it had been a while since she heard this one. I could almost imagine her and her husband dancing to it late at night.

"This song's making me even more tired." Martinez yawned and lay down on the couch. He did do the most dancing so I wasn't surprised that it worn him out.

"Well I think this song is beautiful." Vogel smiled and stood up with a long sigh. He walked over to where Commander Lewis was sitting and held out his hand, "Would you like to dance Commander."

Lewis gave no hesitation as she stood up and joined Vogel in the centre of the room. We all watched from where we were sitting at how happy she looked. Martinez lay with his hands behind his head and hummed dreamily to the music.

Watney nudged Beck and said, "C'mon Beck, let's see what these ladies have got."

Watney made his way over to an anxious Johanssen.

"Oh no," she shook her head. "This isn't exactly my forte."

"And you think it's mine? Just give it a go, you might enjoy it." Watney gave her a wink to which Johanssen finally gave in and joined him.

I was pretty content to just sit there and watch as I swayed slightly to the music. It was an amazing scene to look at, was especially with the view of the Galaxy behind everyone. It was definitely a sight I was going to remember.

All of a sudden a hand appeared in front of my face and I looked up to see Beck, a small smile spread across his lips. "Can I have this dance?"